Monday, August 08, 2005

Outside the Box

I went over to Katie's office to show her some copy I'd just written. While I was there she asked for my comments on a postcard she's designing. It's a tough one.

The card is supposed to serve as an all-purpose event invitation shell. It is to be used by more than 40 alumni clubs for everything from lectures to theater evenings to dinners. It has to look inviting, and it can't bland, but neither it can it be too specific.

Katie has come up with the clever tagline, "We're saving a seat...for you." This should cover just about any event, except those at which everybody would be required to stand all night, but when your age demo skews heavily to 60+ this happens rarely.

She wants to surround it with images of empty seats in theaters, banquet rooms, lecture halls, and so forth.

This sounds easy, but it's not. Finding the right seats in the right settings, photographed and styled properly takes some doing.

I tried to be helpful, but as we talked it over and looked through online libraries of stock photography I couldn't resist pondering how the tenor of copy might change if we used pictures of:

The Last Supper

the Coronation Chair in Westminster Abbey

Lincoln's box at Ford's Theater

the electric chair at Sing Sing

a deck chair from the Titanic

a set of gynecologist's stirrups

Why not offend as many people as possible with a single print piece? It would be far more efficient than my usual practice of pissing off trustees, major donors, and high-strung volunteers one by one.

I think you should use the coronation chair idea. Seriously. It's more interesting (less generic) than what you described, and implies that the invitee is an honored guest. (I mean, jeezuz, who finds an empty seat in a banquet room appealing? has anyone ever been to a banquet that wasn't just incredibly dull and uncomfortable?)

I'd buy those party invites too, if they were available. Not that I have many parties (A) or (B) any that require more seat than what is already in your pants, but, hey, someone else may entertain more than I.

Franklin, darling! I am utterly devastated that we were unable to meet in class. You must have had the Friday class - I was in the 6 hour Estonian Lace class on Saturday. I can now Nupp with the best of them.

Were you in attendance at the fashion show - if you could call it that - on Friday night? It seemed to me to be a large collection of "What Not to Wear", especially for the... ahem... oh, hell, the fat women - of which I am one. And what the hell were those little gonad looking things adorning that one shawl - how long do you think it would take one of my cats to eat one of those... and then later be barfing it up on my couch?

Oh well, at least I didn't do any major damage in the market. I did score some Suri Alpaca and some silk/camel - both laceweight and sone wonderful DK alpaca for a Highland Triangle.

Carrying the toilet idea one step further....a potty chair? Most university poobahs seem to have less wit than the average two-year-old? Franklin, you mean you won't be attending the Illinois State Fair? Looking at the butter cow and chomping down on cozy dogs? Heckling the Redumblicans on their special day? Wallowing in nostalgia when your favorite monster rock band from the 80's plays the Grandstand (yeah, I have Cheap Trick tickets)?

You said:The Last Supper the Coronation Chair in Westminster AbbeyLincoln's box at Ford's Theater the electric chair at Sing Sing a deck chair from the Titanica set of gynecologist's stirrupsWhy not offend as many people as possible with a single print piece

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